From a songwriting perspective, it's always interesting to try and track whether a song's melody is structured around a set of chords or whether the chords are layered in on top of the melody. The old chicken vs. egg conundrum. Which brings us to "The Great Unknown" from The Starfolk, a Minneapolis quartet led by Brian Tighe of underexposed 90's indie band The Hangups and, with wife Allison LaBonne (also featured here), current boy/girl alt-pop outfit The Owls. The opener on their just released self-titled debut, "The Great Unknown" initially sounds like an incongruous stylistic mashup lending a welcome layer of grimy, gritty chords to the song's lovely chamber/pop melody and harmonies. Sort of like Marshall Crenshaw and Paul McCartney co-fronting a mid-80's band in Seattle. Stream the full album here...